News — University of Bonn

Gerd Faltings to Receive the 2026 Abel Prize

For the first time ever, the Abel Prize has gone to a German—and this one is based at the University of Bonn! Mathematician Professor Gerd Faltings will receive the award in a ceremony in Oslo on May 26, 2026. The accolade has been presented every year since 2003 by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in the presence of the country’s king Harald V. Professor Faltings is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Bonn and a former director of the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics (MPIM) in the city.

Bonn Most Successful University in Excellence Strategy

The Excellence Commission, made up of the Committee of Experts and the science ministers at federal and state level, announced earlier today that the University of Bonn has been awarded funding from the federal and state governments for a further seven years (2027–2033). With its eight Clusters of Excellence, the University of Bonn will thus retain its crown as the most successful University of Excellence in the contest as it enters the new funding period. The University will now take additional strategic steps to establish itself in the leading pack of the world’s best universities over the long term, says Rector Professor Michael Hoch.

Wi-Wi-Wi – How the Quail’s Call Influenced Hieroglyphs

In the age of voice messages and videos, writing is easily forgotten. Yet for millennia, it has been the central medium of our cultural memory: it stores knowledge and tells stories. Simple symbols give rise to entire worlds in the mind—almost like cinema without popcorn. Whether painted or carved in stone, it lasts an astonishingly long time. Without it, we would know little about the past. Even before humans could read, they interpreted signs: they read animal tracks, navigated by the stars, and determined the time of day by the sun’s position. Egyptologist Prof. Ludwig Morenz of the University of Bonn describes the long road to writing in his new book.

Concepts of God, Dependency, and Earth’s Rotation

What cognitive frameworks underlie concepts of God in ancient Israel? A new research group at the University of Bonn is investigating this question. It is receiving nearly two million euros in funding from the German Research Foundation. The principal investigator is Prof. Dr. Jan Dietrich from the Faculty of Protestant Theology. Scientists from Bonn are also involved in two other new research groups examining how Chinese technology companies create new dependencies (political science) and how the Earth’s rotation can be measured even more precisely (geodesy).

Sacrifice before the cataclysm: the aromas of Pompeii’s household altars

An international team of researchers from LMU, the University of Zurich, University of Bonn and further partners investigated ash residues from incense burners. The substances they discovered show that Pompeii was part of a global trade network.

Innovative Teaching Projects Secure Millions of Euros in Funding

The Faculty of Medicine Bonn has once again been successful in the Freiraum (“Free Space”) grant program run by the Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre, a foundation for promoting innovative teaching in higher education. April will see the launch of three new teaching projects designed to improve practical teaching on medical degree programs with the aid of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies. The teams from the University of Bonn and University Hospital Bonn are receiving over €1 million in all to turn their ideas into reality.